joshy207

Incomes are also higher in many other cities. A job in Detroit that pays $25K will pay $32K in Chicago and over $40K in New York and California. Relatively speaking, Red Wings ticket prices are high. Attendance at the Joe was s***ty in the 2nd half of last season and in the early playoff rounds. I figured Ilitch and his new marketing genius would have seen the problem and cut ticket prices drastically this year. Instead they raised prices, so attendance woes continued. It will continue to get worse until the economy rebounds or the Wings slash ticket prices.

From the story that was pasted in the thread, it sounds like Pearce is a late bloomer. There are a good number of college players who go undrafted and sign with NHL clubs as free agents once their senior season is over. Figure the majority of college players are 19, 20, even 21 as freshmen, coming from Junior leagues like the USHL, NAHL, or one of the Canadian Tier 2 leagues. They do get scouted by the NHL at that level, but not nearly as heavily as the NCAA or CHL leagues do. A lot of these guys don't stand out or aren't complete players at 17, 18, 19, so they don't get drafted, but after a few years of junior and college hockey, they become solid NHL prospects. The oldest a North American player can be to be drafted is 20, after that they are free agents, so they can sign with whichever team gives them the best offer.

Fixed...

The Joe's shoveling crew is made up of players from Little Caesars' Midget AAA team. (High school age, yes.) The Blue Crew is tasty!!

First part was sarcastic. I really don't like the idea of shootouts determining the outcome of a game. Kinda like a home run derby, HORSE, or punt-pass-kick deciding the other major pro sports' games. Pure silliness. Second part... tweekvp's answer sums up my feelings there. Maybe the OT win could go toward a tiebreaker, but really it's just for pure fan entertainment. Another possible solution could be to have a shootout BEFORE the game, and used as a tiebreaker. Could make for some very interesting finishes to games tied late in the third...

Why even bother with the game, just have a shootout. I died a little when the NHL implemented shootouts. I had already died some when they started giving a point for the "regulation tie" (now OTL). Why they felt the need to bastardize the standings, I have no idea. As some people have already said, it makes some teams appear better than they really are, and it deemphasizes winning in regulation time. I'd rather see the league go back to 2 points only, 2 for the win and 0 for a loss (regulation or OT), and if tied after OT, 1 point each. Have the shootout, but no extra point for the standings. It's a tie. There is nothing wrong with a tie, there never has been and never will be. Some games were just meant to be tied. I guess if you haven't ever played, it's harder to understand, but some of the games I remember best that I've played or coached were ties.

Holy crap, he's a suitcase! Been moved 4 times in 5 seasons. He's the Mike Sillinger of the Q... And it looks like he's just recently figured out where the net is. 10 goals in his first 227 games, and 29 goals in 83 games since the beginning of last year's playoffs. Looks like his overage year has been very good to him!

A lot of goalies will get 2 masks per season, one at the beginning and one halfway through the year. Many of them get a different paint job on each mask.

Phoenix's on-ice performance is not the determining factor in whether or not they stay there. Attendance/local fan interest, corporate support, and ownership stability are the important things to look at. Ownership can't continue to lose millions upon millions of dollars and continue to operate the franchise. From what I've heard, the Coyotes aren't really on most Phoenix-area residents' radar. I have no idea what the corporate support picture looks like. Basically, if they're still struggling this badly after 13 years, I think it's time to pull the plug.

I don't have any personal experience with that camp, but I haven't heard anything negative about it and I have heard Jeff Blum is a good coach. His staff has a lot of coaching, teaching, and personal instruction experience. Bogas is a HS assistant coach, Clark runs the CORE training facility that Draper is inolved in, Tomlinson has camp and private lesson experience, John Blum has been around for a long time, not sure on the others. It's only 2 days and 2 hours per day... can't hurt to give it a try.

Both. They can replace Maltby and Kopecky for the playoff run. I'd call it an upgrade.

Donald S. to the Habs? Sacrilege!

^ 2nd best name of all time!

The guy with the absolute best name is long retired. Bob Beers. Perfect, perfect name for a human being.

I'm pretty sure Mid is about 75 and Regular is about 90.

Yeah, it's not as if Lidstrom sucks this year, but there are subtle little things you can notice about his play. He's just not quite as sharp. It's probably just the elbow. He also didn't look "himself" last year when he was trying to play through an injury. It would be nice if the Wings' schedule wasn't so jam-packed the rest of the year, so he could find a week or so to shut it down and rest the elbow, but they only have 3 straight days off just twice more this season. Lots of back-to-back games and stretches of one or two days off. If he is going to rest up, he'll have to miss a few games at least. But, if rest is going to help, that might be better than trying to play through more pain in the playoffs.

I think the length of time that Maltby, McCarty, and Draper have been here--and especially each of their last contracts--are tribute enough. No way those guys are on par with the retired-number players. Important players, great guys, yes... but retire their numbers? No. Holmstrom's won't be retired either.

You should look at a map then. There are 16 teams farther east than Detroit. One of them is Columbus (barely), who is also in the Western Conference.

I also doubt the Wings will be making any trades. If... IF... they acquire anyone, he'd pretty much have to be a pending UFA. And with Helm, Leino, Ericsson, and even Abdelkader able to step in and play, why should they rent somebody from outside the organization? I'd much rather see our current assets gain some playoff experience.

I would put Southern Ontario (Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge-Hamilton), Houston, and Kansas City at the top of a very short list of candidates for NHL relocation. If territorial rights can be worked out with Toronto and Buffalo, and if Bettman can ever accept letting Balsillie in the league, S. Ont. is basically a no-brainer. Copps Coliseum in Hamilton can serve as a temporary home until an NHL-quality rink is built. The fan base and interest are there, and corporate support shouldn't be a problem. #1 candidate IMO. Houston is the #11 US TV market, and the biggest with no nearby NHL team. Houston has hosted teams in the AHL, IHL, and Central League (top minor-pro) as well as the WHA's Aeros with Gordie Howe and his sons. The Aeros play at the Toyota Center, which is also the NBA Rockets' home, so it is big enough for the NHL. Houston is probably the best American market available. Kansas City has an arena ready to go, and no NBA to compete with. The interest is there. KC did have the Scouts in the late 70s, and they only lasted two years, but those were turbulent financial times for almost every team in every league. I think it could work in KC this time around. Other choices would include Portland, Seattle, Las Vegas... and honestly, that's probably it. Portland, IMO, would be a better choice than Seattle, although Seattle is larger... and I have reservations about Las Vegas. I don't see the NHL as a tourist attraction in a city like Vegas, there's simply too much to do at the casinos. However, people do actually live there, so hockey could be (at the very least) a distraction for the locals. Might work, might not. Oklahoma City lobbied hard to get an expansion team in the late 90s, it was one of the final 6 candidates. (I think Houston was the other finalist left out.) But with the NBA recently moving there, I don't think OKC could support another new franchise. All other cities mentioned are too small and/or would not have the needed fan and corporate support to survive.

If Kopecky's role on the team is to make all the other players look good, well then, he fills that role very well. Not once have I been impressed with anything I've seen him do. This is where I think the whole "loyalty to anyone who's ever put on a Red Wings jersey" goes a bit too far. There are better options than Kopecky available within the organization. Also, why does everyone keep linking Hossa to Kopecky? I know Hossa is staying at his house, but why does that make them a package deal? It doesn't IMO.

Hits from behind need to be eliminated from hockey at all levels. If it takes game misconducts to do that, then so be it. I don't like embellishing either, but those kind of hits shouldn't happen in the first place. The only time I wouldn't want to see a hit from behind called (either 2 & 10 or 5 & game) is if the player turns his back to the hit at the last second. That's a stupid play and players who do that are just asking to get hurt. There are ways to take a hit and that isn't one of them. The players used to respect each other. Those days are long gone.

WOW. If this is how you feel, then hockey is not the game for you. UFC or dogfighting might be up your alley though. If a guy breaks his neck, you think there will be any blood? Probably not. So if I smoke you from behind, head-first into the boards and you break your neck, but don't get cut, it's just 2 minutes? That's cool...... Accidental or not, players are responsible for their sticks. If my stick goes up and cuts your chin, drawing blood, I get 4 minutes, no question. Just like Chelios' penalty against Dallas. I'm sure he didn't mean to hit that guy in the mouth, but what in the hell was he doing swinging his stick around at head level??!?! 4 minutes, in the box. He didn't argue it at all, and he looked like he was mad at himself.

They ALWAYS do. I think it's a concern as well. Who knows how serious the injury is... obviously he can play through it, but it's also obvious that it's bothering him.

Good points. It could work out in their favor. They may still be productive at 37, 38. (Or, if not, they may have already retired by then.) But I agree with you, the league is going to be hard-pressed to have increased revenues for the next year, maybe two. I've already heard projections that the cap will decrease next year since the value of the Canadian dollar has fallen again. Teams need to take into consideration the fact that the cap may not rise every year. Also, at that age, you have to worry about injury. The risk becomes that much greater. Before Sakic minced his hand in his snowblower, he had missed a bunch of games with another injury. Conditioning becomes a factor--Sundin has struggled mightily in his much-hyped return this year. HNIC last night was talking about how much heat he has taken from the media and fans for not showing up in top shape and for taking a vacation over the All-Star break rather than working out in Vancouver. Plus there's the lost scoring touch that Michael Nylander is suffering through at age 36. He went from a consistent point-per-game producer after the lockout to .5 P/GM this year. Ken and Mickey were talking about that yesterday, how much he has struggled this season. The rewards are great in the short-term and could be good in the long term, but the long-term risks are big and cannot be overlooked.